Chapter Six

Lucas opened the door to Sami's apartment to find Sami curled up on the corner of the couch. She was hugging her knees to her chest and her face was buried in her arms but he could still hear her sobbing. Tentatively, he stepped towards her, not sure if she wanted him to be there or not. If her punching him less than ten minutes ago was any indication, then she didn't. But he couldn't walk away from her and leave her alone when she was hurting like this. He sat down next to her on the couch and Sami raised her head to look at him. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were red and puffy from crying. Lucas couldn't believe Brady could say something so horrible. He knew what Sami had went through when she lost her father. She didn't need people saying things like that.

"It's okay, baby." he whispered, cautiously reaching out to stroke her hair. When she didn't pull away or try to hit him, he pulled her into his arms, "He's a heartless bastard, don't worry about what he said. Just say the word and I'll make him sorry."

Sami curled up against Lucas' body and allowed her tears to spill onto Lucas shirt, the heat of his body mingling with her own and comforting her, "No, don't bother. I'll be fine, really. I just miss my dad so much. I try not to think about it because it hurts so much to remember how he died without knowing I loved him. All Brady did when he said what he did was remind me of how long I'm going to have to live without my dad. He's gone forever and he's never coming back."

Lucas cradled her body in his arms as she shook with heartbroken sobs, "I'm sorry. I wish there was something else I could do to make you feel better."

"You're doing enough just by being here. Lucas, I can't lose any more of the people I care about. I wouldn't be able to go on if-" she broke off a shudder wracked her body, as if she was imagining the idea of losing any more of the people in her life. She bunched up the material of his shirt in her hands and nestled her head into his chest. Lucas used one hand to stroke her back while the other framed her face, wiping away her tears with the pad of his thumb.

Sami sniffled, "You're being so nice to me and I just punched you. Why do you put up with me?"

Lucas was startled by the sudden question, "I want you to be happy. I care about you, Sami. A lot more than you'll probably ever know."

"Lucas, about hitting you when we were in the bathroom, I'm s-" the doorknob to the apartment twisted around. Sami's eyes widened with alarm as she remembered Brady. Impulsively, she jumped off Lucas' lap and crawled over the side of the couch. She landed on the floor behind the couch on her wrist. Sami cringed as she took the pressure off her wrist and sat up, rubbing her wrist and muttering obscenities under her breath. Brady walked through the door of the apartment without knocking to see Lucas sitting on the couch with his forehead crinkling in confusion.

Sami stood up and faced Brady, still holding her wrist. Brady shifted awkwardly under the dark looks of both Lucas and Sami.

"I'm sorry about what I said earlier. I didn't mean to upset you." Brady said, avoiding Sami and Lucas' eyes.

Lucas snorted, "Then what were you trying to do?"

"I wasn't talking to you." Brady snapped, turning back to Sami, "So, are you going to come back and help Nicole and I decorate the cake?"

Sami looked at him like he was crazy, "No."

Brady frowned, "Why not? I already apologized and if you don't come back, me and Nicole will have to ice the cake by ourselves and we aren't as good at icing cakes as you are." Brady added the last bit to try and help convince her to change her mind.

"You and Nicole can do whatever you want with the cake, I don't care anymore. Besides, after you finish with the cake, I'm sure you and Nicole will find other ways to occupy yourselves." Sami retorted.

Brady missed the hidden meaning in her words, "It's getting kind of late, so we'll probably just go to bed after we finish."

"Whatever creams your twinkie." Lucas smirked at her response, watching as Brady stared at her in horror, "Look, if I throw a stick, will you go away?"

"Are you implying that I'm a dog?" Brady asked angrily.

"You look like one." Sami shot back, "Now get out of my apartment and go back to Nicole. I think she's the only one who's actually tolerating you right now."

Brady glowered at Sami before turning and leaving the apartment. Lucas turned to smile at Sami, glad that she had stopped crying, "Whatever creams your twinkie? Where did that come from?"

Sami smiled back at him, "I couldn't resist."

"Why did you jump off the couch?" Lucas asked her, remembering her abrupt behaviour before Brady's entrance. Sami's smile faded and she shifted uncomfortably.

"Because I felt like it." she said weakly, even though she knew Lucas would be able to tell there was more to it than that.

Lucas wanted to dig deeper into the subject but decided not to push her anymore for the remainder of the night. Brady had already put her through enough torture, "Okay. Hey, since we aren't going to finish making the cake with Brady and Nicole, why don't we make our own cake? We can make any kind of cake you want."

Sami's smile returned as she wiped off the remains of her tears from her cheeks, "With homemade icing?" she asked, then blushed when she realized what she had said. Damn, I have such a dirty mind, she thought to herself, her face heating up even more with embarrassment. But she wasn't the only one. She didn't miss the look on Lucas' face after she said that.

"Sure." Lucas managed to croak, then headed towards the kitchen. Sami followed him, relieved he hadn't pushed her into saying anything more about jumping off the back of the couch.

Several hours later, Lucas watched Sami crawl underneath the blankets on her bed. Lucas told her good-night and turned to leave the bedroom.

"Lucas, wait." Lucas looked at her expectantly. Sami looked almost scared as she sat up in the bed and cleared her throat nervously, "I was just wondering if you would..... stay in here tonight."

Lucas had not been expecting that. She really couldn't make up her mind tonight. First, she acted like she didn't want him anywhere near her and then she acted like she didn't want him to leave her side. He decided she had only changed moods so fast because Brady had upset her so much. Still, that didn't stop him from nodding and climbing into bed next to her.

Sami exhaled quietly, thankful he hadn't refused her. He stayed about two feet away from her after he got into the bed, like he was ever she would attack him if he got any closer. And after she had punched him in the bathroom, she couldn't blame him. So Sami was the one who moved over in the bed until she had filled in every millimetre of space between herself and Lucas, until her arms were wrapped around Lucas' body. She closed her eyes and let herself indulge in the warmth of being in Lucas' arms for a moment before speaking.

"Lucas?" she said softly, making sure he was still awake enough to hear her.

"Hm?" he mumbled, letting his arms envelop Sami in a protective embrace.

"I'm sorry I hit you earlier tonight." she said in a low voice, "I shouldn't have done that because I- I kind of liked it." Kind of? That was an understatement. Now that she had admitted that, she was willing to admit something else, "And remember in the cave? When I got my memory back and we were on the ground together without any clothes on, I didn't know what was going on but I still sort of liked that too."

Lucas was silent for a moment, "Then why did you hit me? Both times?"

"I think I have intimacy issues." Sami admitted, "But you know, if I ended up really falling for another guy, like really falling for them, I think-" she stopped herself, not sure if she really wanted to go this far, "Well, I mean, if things were different, I could fall in love with you. But I can't."

This next admission also momentarily stunned Lucas into silence, "Why not?"

"Because I just can't." Sami replied, "It's complicated and I can't really tell you anything else but the timing is just really off."

Lucas' confused frown was swallowed up by the darkness, "And that's all you're planning on telling me, isn't it?" he asked her, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice. But it was hard. Having her tell him that she could fall in love with him, meaning she wasn't yet, when he was already in love with her was awful. Especially when she started going on about how the timing was wrong and how it was too complicated and how she couldn't fall in love with him.

"Right." Sami said, refusing to say anything more on the topic. She had already said too much but the words had just spilled out. And what did she mean she could fall in love with him? Why would she tell him that when she didn't even know if it was true or not? She was either on the verge of falling in love with him or she already was. If it wasn't for Brady and that God damn bet, she and Lucas might already be together. It wasn't very probable, considering how she kept pushing him away out of fear she was going to fail with him like she had with all the other men in her life but it could have happened. And now she would never know. But not wanting to think about it, she said good-night to Lucas and finally fell asleep.